By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it needs to be a joke when he was informed he could water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently utilizing a pump fuelled by cotton waste.
"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, crouching down to check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, walking over to a close-by tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this
biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, particularly during dry spell periods."
Mathoka stated his revenues had actually doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just good news for him - it is likewise great news for the world.
Unlike most biofuels, which are derived from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and
jatropha curcas, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making process.
That means that along with being cleaner and more affordable than
regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no
additional land is needed to
produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate
biofuel crops has actually driven forest communities off their land and pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - worsening food lacks.
"Our biodiesel originates from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," said Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the
Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.
"We started producing and utilizing it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now use it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and likewise to local farmers for watering."
More than 1,200
farmers in Kitui have up until now invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and significantly
unpredictable weather is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.
The recurring droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of
severe hunger.
The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by practically 70 percent over a
duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a severe scarcity of rain, humanitarian agencies are cautioning of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to reduce dry spell in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased regional food prices are expected, which will minimize poor households' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are already
obvious.
Rivers,
water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.
Villagers experience travelling longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom are
reliant on rain-fed farming, talk about plans to sell their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is poor.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH
BIODIESELBut not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A small but growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather condition - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed
biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than three years back.
Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase the irrigation system - that includes the
biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of
biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings,
depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments up until the total is settled. They buy the
biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump allowed him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety of vegetables including maize, tomatoes, spinach and sweet potatoes.
"With a diesel pump, maize yields were lower and I would get 15,000 shillings in 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can earn 45,000 shillings," said Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Other farmers indicate the plan as a significant benefit in helping improve their output.
"The instalment plan is great. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to purchase a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood next to his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are excellent which implies we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early phases, with few farmers having paid back the full expense of the pumps.
But such
biofuel schemes are promising since they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simplicity of the design - user friendly, robust technology, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - could assist energize rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The key concern is checking concepts and approaches in a collective style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to attempt and gain from this experiment. Banks should begin explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors require to support experimentation."
($1 = 101.3000 Kenyan shillings) (Reporting by Nita Bhalla @nitabhalla, Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate modification. Visit
http://news.trust.org)
